A Humbler California Dream

Previous Generations Fantasized About Gold and Cheap Land. A New Generation of Californians Wants Upward Mobility, Environmental Responsibility, and Better Schools.

California has long been seen as a beautiful land of opportunity—a place where the sun is always shining and anything is possible. For many generations, people have flocked here to make it big—to mine for gold, drill for oil, find fame in Hollywood, and become dot.com millionaires. But 21st-century Californians look very different from previous generations of Californians—and life in today’s California offers different stumbling blocks and different prospects for success. What are the hopes and dreams of Californians in 2015? How do they differ from those of their parents …